Open AccessNon‐native Speakers of English in the Classroom: What Are the Effects on Pupil Performance? *
Author(s) -
Geay Charlotte,
McNally Sandra,
Telhaj Shqiponja
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.683
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1468-0297
pISSN - 0013-0133
DOI - 10.1111/ecoj.12054
Subject(s) - library science , schools of economic thought , media studies , sociology , history , economics , computer science , neoclassical economics
There has been an increase in the number of children going to school in England who do not speak English as a first language. We investigate whether this has an impact on the educational outcomes of native English speakers at the end of primary school. We show that the negative correlation observed in the raw data is mainly an artefact of selection: non‐native speakers are more likely to attend school with disadvantaged native speakers. We attempt to identify a causal impact of changes in the percentage of non‐native speakers. Our results suggest zero effect and rule out negative effects.